General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems
Background Emergency room (ER) utilisation by ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems leads to ER-capacity use and long waiting times. Establishing General Practice (GP)-led urgent care practices (UCP) adjacent to ERs allows to triage patients from the ER to the UCP. However, patients...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of General Practice |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/13814788.2025.2520218 |
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| author | Katharina Schmalstieg-Bahr Bastian Bessert Penelope-Sophie Peters Johanna Sophie Bobardt Ulrich Mayer-Runge Martin Scherer Jan Oltrogge-Abiry |
| author_facet | Katharina Schmalstieg-Bahr Bastian Bessert Penelope-Sophie Peters Johanna Sophie Bobardt Ulrich Mayer-Runge Martin Scherer Jan Oltrogge-Abiry |
| author_sort | Katharina Schmalstieg-Bahr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Emergency room (ER) utilisation by ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems leads to ER-capacity use and long waiting times. Establishing General Practice (GP)-led urgent care practices (UCP) adjacent to ERs allows to triage patients from the ER to the UCP. However, patients may perceive themselves as ER-cases and expect ER-treatment including extensive diagnostics.Objectives To assess UCP-patients’ satisfaction compared to ambulatory ER-patients.Methods Sub-analysis (11/2019–01/2020) of a prospective, monocentric observational study at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf ER and co-located UCP focusing on patient survey data including demographics, waiting time and diagnoses. Satisfaction, uncertainty and appropriateness of waiting time was assessed with 4-point Likert-scales.Results Analysing 1196 UCP- and 597 ER-patients, patient satisfaction correlated positively with perceived appropriate waiting time in both groups. But more UCP-patients deemed their waiting time appropriate (76.7% vs. 70.4%; p = 0.004) and reported to be very satisfied with the treatment (64.7% vs. 55.8%; p < 0.001). Time until the first physician contact was nearly equal, but the entire length of stay was shorter in the UCP (104 ± 88.0 min vs. 179 ± 301 min; p < 0.001). In both groups, satisfaction was reduced by on-going uncertainty after the visit, but uncertainty was higher among UCP-patients (32% vs. 25%; p = 0.003). Age, gender or diagnosis had no influence on patients’ satisfaction. More UCP-patients stated that today’s problem could have been treated by a GP (57% vs. 15%; p < 0.001) and were advised to follow up in an outpatient setting.Conclusions Treating patients in an UCP does not lead to overall dissatisfaction. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-67e8f6a6909f4a529b3262a2d58b7cba |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1381-4788 1751-1402 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of General Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-67e8f6a6909f4a529b3262a2d58b7cba2025-08-20T03:31:53ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of General Practice1381-47881751-14022025-12-0131110.1080/13814788.2025.2520218General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problemsKatharina Schmalstieg-Bahr0Bastian Bessert1Penelope-Sophie Peters2Johanna Sophie Bobardt3Ulrich Mayer-Runge4Martin Scherer5Jan Oltrogge-Abiry6Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of General Practice and Primary Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of General Practice and Primary Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of General Practice and Primary Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyInterdisciplinary Central Emergency Department, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of General Practice and Primary Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of General Practice and Primary Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, GermanyBackground Emergency room (ER) utilisation by ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems leads to ER-capacity use and long waiting times. Establishing General Practice (GP)-led urgent care practices (UCP) adjacent to ERs allows to triage patients from the ER to the UCP. However, patients may perceive themselves as ER-cases and expect ER-treatment including extensive diagnostics.Objectives To assess UCP-patients’ satisfaction compared to ambulatory ER-patients.Methods Sub-analysis (11/2019–01/2020) of a prospective, monocentric observational study at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf ER and co-located UCP focusing on patient survey data including demographics, waiting time and diagnoses. Satisfaction, uncertainty and appropriateness of waiting time was assessed with 4-point Likert-scales.Results Analysing 1196 UCP- and 597 ER-patients, patient satisfaction correlated positively with perceived appropriate waiting time in both groups. But more UCP-patients deemed their waiting time appropriate (76.7% vs. 70.4%; p = 0.004) and reported to be very satisfied with the treatment (64.7% vs. 55.8%; p < 0.001). Time until the first physician contact was nearly equal, but the entire length of stay was shorter in the UCP (104 ± 88.0 min vs. 179 ± 301 min; p < 0.001). In both groups, satisfaction was reduced by on-going uncertainty after the visit, but uncertainty was higher among UCP-patients (32% vs. 25%; p = 0.003). Age, gender or diagnosis had no influence on patients’ satisfaction. More UCP-patients stated that today’s problem could have been treated by a GP (57% vs. 15%; p < 0.001) and were advised to follow up in an outpatient setting.Conclusions Treating patients in an UCP does not lead to overall dissatisfaction.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/13814788.2025.2520218Primary careurgent care practiceambulatory emergency room patientswaiting timepatient satisfaction |
| spellingShingle | Katharina Schmalstieg-Bahr Bastian Bessert Penelope-Sophie Peters Johanna Sophie Bobardt Ulrich Mayer-Runge Martin Scherer Jan Oltrogge-Abiry General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems European Journal of General Practice Primary care urgent care practice ambulatory emergency room patients waiting time patient satisfaction |
| title | General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems |
| title_full | General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems |
| title_fullStr | General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems |
| title_full_unstemmed | General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems |
| title_short | General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room – satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems |
| title_sort | general practice led urgent care practice vs emergency room satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems |
| topic | Primary care urgent care practice ambulatory emergency room patients waiting time patient satisfaction |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/13814788.2025.2520218 |
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